Finally something I can say that is well deserved.

Recently in April in Santo Domingo I renewed my Dominican residency papers and I now have the “Residencia Definitiva” until 2035.

I have experienced a new phenomenon. Other expats in the DR being kind of envious that I obtained this status and that I even have the residency papers in the first place. It must have become more desirable as I don’t remember it being like that before.

When I was at the DGM – the Dominican immigration for the biometrics and had my photo taken and then received my residency card. There were a lot of people. Thankfully this time the air conditioning worked reasonably well. There were quite a lot of Haitians there and there are always many Latin Americans too, typically Venezuelans, Colombians and Cubans. Quite a lot of Chinese and of course some Europeans like me and maybe a bit more North Americans.

There is this idea out there that it is easy and you just have to have money. It did cost me over a 1,000 USD partly because of my late renewal of almost four years but of course it has to cost something. There is some paperwork involved and administration for the DGM, the government authority dealing with immigration.

It would be a lot of money for some. Many of the Haitians of course. But even wealthy individuals and those pursuing an investment visa must go through a similar process and provide the same documentation. There has also been a shift in the difficulty since I first started the process back in 2006–7, getting first the temporary residency and then the first permanent one in 2009. For instance back then I just started the process as a tourist in the country. Now you have to start the process from your country of origin via the nearest Dominican embassy or a Dominican consulate.